Google Music Beta Logo

 

 

A few weeks ago I applied to be in the queue for the Google Music Manager Beta version.  This evening I just received my invite!

This is to compete with other “cloud type music services” such as Apple’s iCloud service.  There are some major differences though as well as philosophical differences with what they are trying to accomplish.

So far the install has gone very fast and smooth. Upon following the link Google sent to me via my Gmail account,  I was sent to this page:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Learn More” reads as follows from Google:

Introducing the Music Manager

The Music Manager is a desktop application that allows you to add your music to the cloud. Once you’ve added songs to Music Beta, you can listen to your music anywhere that you have internet access.

From the Music Manager, you can:

  • Add music from your iTunes library, Windows Media Player library, My Music folder, or folders of your choosing to Music Beta
  • Choose to add songs automatically, on a specified interval, or completely manually
  • Adjust the bandwidth available for adding songs
  • View the progress of songs you’re adding

 

Next I clicked install:

Google Music Install 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Music Install 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Music Install 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Learn More” points to the Google Music Help page:

Open the Music application and view your music library

Your Music Beta library is accessible from any computer and up to eight Android devices. If you’ve disabled auto-sync on your Android device, you’ll need to either manually sync or enable auto-sync for your Music Beta library to appear. (see Accounts & sync settings in the Google Mobile Help Center).

To use the Music application with Music Beta, your device must be running Android 2.2 and above with OpenGL2.0 (contact your manufacturer to determine if OpenGL2.0 is supported on your device). You can determine your device’s version of Android by touching Settings > About Phone/device.

When using the Music application, you can view your library of music in several ways.

Touch the Music icon on the Apps screen or touch a shortcut icon on a Home screen.

If you have been invited and then signed into Music Beta by Google, you’re prompted to select the account whose online music library you want to access from the Android Music application. Otherwise, you work only with music you’ve copied directly to your device from a computer (see Copy music files directly from your computer).

If you select the wrong account, you can change this by touching Settings > Google Account

The Music application searches your online library and your device’s internal storage for music and playlists; this can take from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on the amount of new music added since you last opened the application. It then displays a carousel view of your new and recent music, organized by album.

Google Music Beta Screenshot

(I have to admit that the interface looks sweet on the Droid as shown above!)

To play music from your computer using Music Beta, access your library at music.google.com

Below is the Google Music Beta Web App view:

Google Music Beta web app screenshotFYI:

After the Google Music Beta web app appears in your browser of choice, NOT ALL OF YOUR SONGS WILL BE THERE.  The app on your PC will automatically upload your songs to the Google Cloud library under your Google account.  There are options so you can select your upload speed, but it’s set to Fastest Possible as a default setting.

I recommend letting it run overnight as it seems to transfer slowly.  I assume it retains the file bitrate and most of mine are 256kbps files.

Below is the web app playing an album.  In typical Google style it is a clean, minimalist type feel to it…

Google music beta album play screenshot

Key Points:

  • Music quality sounds as good through my Logitech 2.1 speakers as it does directly out of iTunes
  • Alot time for large library uploads
  • Does not currently work on Mobile iOS devices, to my knowledge and frustration.
  • Currently Google sets a 20,000 Song limit
  • Your music library will be accessible from up to 8 Android mobile devices and any computer that is online

More to come as I use it more.

I would love to hear your feedback on this Google Music Beta, Pros & Cons, and other cloud music services out there!